Anime /
Persona 5: The Animation

Edit Locked

The world is not as it should be. It is filled with distortion, and "ruin" can no longer be avoided. Those who oppose fate and desire change...From time to time, they were called "Tricksters". You are the Trickster... Now is the time to rise against the abyss of distortion in this world.

Advertisement:

Persona 5: The Animation is the Animated Adaptation of Persona 5, produced by CloverWorks, A-1 Pictures' former Kōenji Studio. It first premiered on April 7, 2018 with an initial 26-episode run, and a special named "Dark Sun..." aired on December 30, 2018. A second special named "Stars and Ours" aired on March 23, 2019. A third special focusing on Goro Akechi, named "Proof of Justice", included in the volume 11 DVD and Blu-Ray releasenote Alongside the disc release of "Dark Sun", was released on May 29, 2019. A fourth special, "A Magical Valentine's Day", was included in the volume 12 release alongside the disc release of "Stars and Ours", and was released on June 26, 2019.

One night while walking home, Ordinary High-School StudentRen Amamiya spots a drunk man assaulting a woman and trying to force her into his car. Stepping in, Ren forcibly removes the drunkard off her, causing him to stumble, hit his head, and subsequently press charges. Ren is falsely convicted of assault and sentenced to a year-long probation in Tokyo, staying with Sojiro Sakura, a distant friend of his parents. On his first day attending Shujin Academy, Ren and fellow outcast Ryuji accidentally stumble into a mysterious Mental World known as the Metaverse: a place where cognition becomes reality, and real-world locations are twisted by the thoughts of humans. Within this world, the most corrupt humans have subconsciously created mental fortresses called "Palaces" where their innermost vices and desires are allowed to run rampant. If someone is able to steal the "Treasure" that forms the heart of the Palace, then the Ruler's vile desires will be erased.

Advertisement:

With the aid of a mysterious smartphone app and the inner-power of "Persona", Ren, along with new allies Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann decided to use the Metaverse to strike back against the rotten society that has unfairly stigmatised them, forming The Phantom Thieves of Hearts dedicated to stealing Treasure and forcibly reforming the corrupt.

With the game's lead character designer, Shigenori Soejima, the original game's soundtrack as well as new tracks from series composer Shoji Meguro and vocalist Lyn, and all of the original Japanese voice cast on board, P5A creates an almost seamless transition from the in-game depictions of the characters to animated form.

Please note that Persona 5: The Animation follows the plot of the game almost exactly, so beware of spoilers for the game on this page, and vice-versa.

Advertisement:

That which opposes fate and desires change... From time to time, they were called "Tropes":

During the first battle in Kaneshiro's Palace, Ren uses Mudo to instantly kill a Shadow without even ripping its mask off.

During the fight with Shadow Kaneshiro himself, the Phantom Thieves do a party-wide series of Baton Passes. Since the Baton Pass requires each person to down a target before passing the baton, and neither Shadow Kaneshiro nor Piggytron can be downed, this is impossible in the game.

During the fight with Shadow Shido, Ren summons Yoshitsune. For those who don't know, one of the Personas required to fuse Yoshitsune is Futsunushi, the Ultimate Persona for the Magician Arcana. Since the player can only maximize Morgana's Confidant just before going to bed on December 23, just before the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, it's impossible to obtain Yoshitsune at this point outside of a New Game+. Ren also summons Alice and Beelzebub, the Ultimate Personas of the Death and Devil Arcanas, even though he doesn't seem to have completed Takemi and Ohya's Confidants.

Game Agathion is a low-level piece of cannon fodder that falls off very quickly in strength; it's a Level 3 Persona, and you probably should be around Level 11 by the time you face Shadow Kamoshida. Anime Agathion single-handedly rips apart Shadow Kamoshida.

Zigzagged for Arsene, as it isn't used throughout the show like Orpheus and Izanagi were, and Joker fuses it with a Pixie during his first Persona Fusion. However, the trope comes to full effect in Dark Sun when Arsene is capable of defeating Loki, Akechi's strongest Persona, with ease.

In the game, Shadow Kaneshiro is a relatively easy boss in his first phase who only becomes a real challenge when, after being defeated, he brings out Piggytron. In the anime, he holds his own against all the Phantom Thieves before bringing out Piggytron to finish the job.

Implied with Hifumi. Since the major twist of her Confidant- that her rise to fame was due to her mother sabotaging her opponents- was cut out, it's possible that in the anime, she became a shogi pro on her own merits.

Adaptational Dumbass: A minor case with Ann. When she hears the name "Futaba Sakura" in the anime, she doesn't realize that she and Sojiro "Boss" Sakura are related until Yusuke points it out in a conversation after their discussion with Alibaba ends. In the game, however, she picks up on it almost immediately.

Shadow Okumura's Executive Director robot. In the game, you'll probably spend most of the battle fighting it, and it has some dangerous attacks. In the anime, the Executive Director's dealt with very quickly, with Morgana and Makoto attacking it in rapid succession, Ren using Hecatoncheires to throw the Executive Director onto Shadow Okumura and Haru finishing it off with Milady's guns.

Shadow Okumura himself. While he is a Flunky Boss in the game, and you can probably defeat him in one hit after defeating the Executive Director, he assists in combat by casting buffs and debuffs, and it's implied that he's not completely helpless, since he threatens Haru and Morgana with what looks like a raygun. In the anime, he lets his workers do all the fighting, and doesn't even try to assist them.

In the game, Akechi is stated to be the strongest of the persona users, with Makoto admitting that the Phantom Thieves were only able to beat him by working together. In the Dark Sun special, Ren ends up taking on and defeating Akechi one-on-one, with Arsene shown to be explicitly superior to Loki.

There's also Cognitive Akechi. In the anime, the real Akechi dispatches his cognitive self with a single gunshot, then faces off against the horde of Shadows. In the game, the gunshot only wounds Cognitive Akechi, and it's strongly implied that he ended up killing the real Akechi. Ironically, this could also imply the other way around, and that the real Akechi finished him off, but was still outnumbered by the Shadows.

Shido is the Disc-One Final Boss in the main game and each of his forms are rather hard to defeat. In Dark Sun, his first form is easily defeated by the Phantom Thieves. His second form's only offense is punching Skull but when he faces Joker in one-on-one combat, he loses to a barrage of attacks from Yoshitsune, Alice, and Beelzebub.

None of the other Phantom Thieves receive their Ultimate Personas in the Persona 5 anime, unlike past anime adaptations. This goes double for Morgana, who always receives his Ultimate Persona on 12/23 since his Confidant ranks up as part of the story.

Haru's set to move in with her fiancé on October 11 in the game, and the date is changed to September 30 in the anime, possibly to give more time for subplots before midterms.

From what we hear about Gun About in the game, it's implied to have a mode in which both players fight each other, similar to a fighting game, since Shinya faces off against Takakura in it. In the anime, only the cooperative mode is shown.

In the original version of the 2/15 scene, Ryuji's text message comes before Sojiro's comment on the situation. In "A Magical Valentine's Day", it comes after.

Most dungeon crawling events have been cut, leaving more time to adapt the most prominent parts of each Palace- the party members awakening to their Personas, the final confrontations with the rulers, and a few other scenes.

Episode 2 has Ren and Ryuji escape from Kamoshida's castle the first time offscreen without Morgana's help. Morgana joins them the next day instead and summons Zorro for the first time shortly after Ryuji summons Captain Kidd instead of having a separate summoning scene.

Ryuji's awakening battle has him, Ren, and Morgana fight a Pixie, Bicorn, and Agathion, all generic enemies of Kamoshida's Castle in the game, rather than Eligor and his Bicorn minions.

Episode 3: Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana secure the Palace route and find the treasure's location before Ann awakens Carmen and joins the team. Then their Calling Card goes up.

Joker doesn't demonstrate his Wild Card ability until Episode 4, where they need to find an eye-key (only one this time, as opposed to two in the game). Instead of the usual tough enemy, they fight another Pixie, but instead she talks until she joins Joker's mask. In the game, he first recruits Pixie on the third trip to Kamoshida's Palace, shortly before Ann joins.

Shadow Madarame doesn't mention the appearance of a black masked intruder in the palace after his defeat.

After defeating Madarame, the cast organizes the hot pot party immediately after, rather than let a couple weeks of content take place before it. This neatly closes Madarame's arc within the episode.

Episode 9 blends the start of Kawakami's Confidant with Ryuji's key Confidant scene by having Kawakami let Ren in on what's happening to the track team's management.

Episode 10's trip to the TV station takes place over the course of one day, rather than two. Akechi's famous "pancakes" conversation with the group in the hall is after the recording of his interview, rather than the day before it.

When the party arrives in the desert outside Futaba's Palace, instead of calmly observing the pyramid from a distance and letting Morgana transform into a car on his own, the group burns their feet on the sands and Ann orders Morgana to transform. The Morganamobile ride itself is also cut.

The adaptation leaves out the subplot of the Phantoms tracking down a thief in a desert town to gain the map to Futaba's Palace.

Ryuji's 'Operation Babe Hunt' is moved from the beach trip to Hawaii, although the process wasn't shown on-screen (the Camp Gay couple also does not make an appearance in either part). Hawaii also becomes the formal introduction place of Hifumi, where Ren saves her from being harassed by foreigners.

The latter half of episode 22 focuses on the middle parts of Mishima's Confidant, when he is at the height of his Acquired Situational Narcissicism as the owner of the Phan-Site. Further, his actions are presented as an attempt to regain public favor for the Thieves after they're framed for killing Kunikazu Okumura and the Principal, rather than seeking revenge on someone who used to make fun of him.

Episode 24 changes the way Sojiro's confidant works. Rather than having Ren and Futaba go over to Mementos, Ren contacts Akechi, who also relates to Futaba's situation with his own bastard child status, so he decides to help and reveals to Futaba's uncle that he wouldn't even win in a family court case given how deep in debt his gambling addiction has gotten him(in the game, Futaba digs it up herself, only for Sojiro to tell her that not only is what she did illegal, he always knew about her uncle's debts). In the end, the uncle takes back his claims of guardianship of Futaba without any trips to the Mementos by the protagonists, although Sojiro does get a visit from social services.

The fight with Leviathan removes the part where the Phantom Thieves have to play a game of roulette against her and expose her cheating.

"Dark Sun" removes the part in which the Phantom Thieves have to guess what Shido views the Diet Building as. On his way from the Sakura residence to Leblanc, Ren overhears Shido speaking and recognizes him as the man responsible for his criminal record.

Two out of the five main targets inside Shido's palace- the former noble and the cleaner- are removed entirely. Of course, it's possible that they encountered the latter off-screen, since they're below-decks when Akechi reveals himself.

At the end of "Dark Sun," the Phantom Thieves realize almost immediately that changing Shido's heart did not have the desired effect, and "Stars and Ours" picks up on December 23, thereby removing a week-long Hope Spot.

In "Stars and Ours", Caroline and Justine outright attacking Joker is cut. Plus, this OVA rearranges the scene where Joker frees his teammates from the Velvet Room, with their jail bars disappearing upon his approaches before they have a group conversation.

Also removed were the Phantom Thieves' battles against the angel minibosses as well as the Holy Grail before his reveal.

In the ending, Sojiro is the one who talks with Ren about the Phantom Thieves' efforts to get him released, removing the conversation with Sae and the montage of Ren's Confidants pitching in.

As the main character is no longer a Hello, [Insert Name Here]Silent Protagonist, but a fully fledged character in Ren Amamiya, we finally get to see his perspective and how he feels about his probation, including a flashback of him being declared guilty in court.

Shiho is shown getting physically abused by Kamoshida, which was otherwise just alluded to in the game through the cognitions in Kamoshida's Palace and the bruises on Mishima and Shiho.

Ann visiting Shiho in the hospital is also shown in the adaptation.

A brief flashback of Yusuke as a young child is shown, having him reading art books and being taught to paint by Madarame.

Makoto's flashbacks are shown, including one to her childhood days with her father and one at his funeral. In particular, it was her father who bought her her mascot pencil case.

Episode 13 has an original subplot including Akechi tracking down a fund embezzlement case in Kawanabe's foundation in Yusuke's Confidant. With the help of Ren, he's able to arrest the culprit: Kawanabe's assistant.

Episode 14 is a recap episode, but it also adds a new Mementos target for Makoto's Confidant: Tsukasa. He was never a Mementos target in the game.

Episode 16 adds a few short scenes, from Sojiro trying to talk to Futaba in her room to Sae questioning Sojiro about cognitive psience outside Leblanc to Sojiro asking Ren if he's putting his nose where it doesn't belong.

Episode 21 inserts Haru's childhood flashbacks with her grandfather. There are some new shots of the group having fun at Destinyland including a rollercoaster ride.

Instead of recycling the footage of Joker's capture from the beginning, as the game does, Episode 26 shows Makoto and Akechi watching it from afar during their escape. The episode also has Akechi talking with the remaining thieves about Ren's capture, before offering to save Ren himself.

Proof of Justice expands on Akechi's back story, and reveals that when he was younger he owned a toy ray gun and used to play as an ally of justice, which was one of the only things that made his late mother smile.

In the anime, Yusuke appears to leave the real Sayuri painting with Sojiro on a whim. In the game, he says that no one will accept it as real, thanks to Madarame altering it, and that his mother would want it in a place where it could brighten someone's day.

Why would Kawakami moonlight as a maid, thereby running herself ragged and risking getting in trouble with the school, when she doesn't even like the job? Anime viewers will never know, since her backstory is never revealed in the anime.

In Episode 14, Eiko's Freudian Excuse- that since her parents favor her talented younger brother over her, she's drawn to someone like Tsukasa- is removed, only mentioned in passing when Eiko tearfully says Tsukasa is all she has. Several other details about how Eiko is fine with her subpar grades but seemingly has a plan for her future, thereby establishing her as a Foil to Makoto, are removed. It's also not mentioned that Tsukasa has repeatedly tried to message Makoto, presumably in an attempt to rope her in as another mark, and which Makoto uses to turn the tables on him.

Downplayed in Episode 16. Sojiro's remarks about Futaba's need for a safe place are implied to be the reason why he had Ren stay in the attic above Leblanc rather than in the Sakura residence, but he doesn't say this outright.

At the beach, when Ryuji questions why Futaba believed the Phantom Thieves could save her by changing her heart, Futaba's explanation of why she needed to reach out to the Phantom Thieves, and why she wasn't sure she could fully trust them is cut out.

In Episode 22, while Mishima's decision to target an actor just because he's famous is proof that he's getting carried away, even if he claims it's for the good of the Phantom Thieves, the anime omits the actual reason behind the choice. In the game, he'd heard rumors that the actor was involved with an idol, and believed that the public would want the actor's heart to be changed, until the actor decided to marry the idol, winning over many of his critics.

In "Dark Sun," a significant part of the explanation of the plan to fool Akechi into thinking that he'd killed the real Ren is cut, particularly one optional conversation in which Futaba talks about the group making sure that Akechi didn't encounter his Cognitive self.

Also from "Dark Sun," it's never mentioned why the cognitive versions of Shido's co-conspirators can turn into Shadows- they're hybrids of cognitive existences and Shadows, and proof that Shido has extensively made use of Wakaba's research. The OVA also doesn't mention that the principal was part of the conspiracy, or that the subway accident was caused by Ooe's request.

Haru's somewhat more suspicious of the other Phantom Thieves after her father's death. When the Phantom Thieves deny sending a calling card to the principal, Haru demands to know who did. By comparison, in the game, she seems to understand that they didn't send the calling card, and later apologizes for doubting the Phantom Thieves.

Unlike in the game, in which Makoto joined the other girls in their Anger Born of Worry moment following Ryuji turning out to have survived the destruction of Shido's Palace, she simply stands with Ren, Yusuke and Morgana as the girls yell at Ryuji.

A few of Sae's scenes establishing that she does care for Makoto are cut out, such as the first dinner together in which Sae expresses that as strict as she is, she does want Makoto to succeed. Immediately after Okumura's death, Sae seems unusually gleeful at the prospect of "using" the man's grief-stricken daughter for information, causing Akechi to sigh and walk away. "Dark Sun" also omits Sae's apology to Futaba for putting pressure on Sojiro.

Chihaya comes off as an unrepentant Snake Oil Salesman in the anime, in which she's shown trying to sell Holy Stones to Eiko and Tsukasa, and later to Ren, since her backstory and Character Development are not included. By comparison, in the game, she did honestly believe that people couldn't change their fates without help, it turned out the ADP's leader (who's done far worse things) was making her sell the stones, and after the protagonist helps change her beliefs, she pays him and her other customers back.

Adaptational Karma: Tsukasa's only comeuppance in the game was having his plans exposed to one of his victims, but ends up becoming a Mementos target in Episode 14.

Ryuji is already a good person, but unlike in the game, he doesn't threaten Ren out of fear of being ratted out to Kamoshida. Before going to Kamoshida's Palace for the third time, he doesn't yell at Ann to stay out, even if his intention was to make sure she didn't put herself in danger. Also, when Morgana left as a result of his insecurities, Ryuji is the most concerned and tries to genuinely apologize for calling him useless, whereas in the game, he was forced to do it, and the backhanded nature of his apology ended up protracting the conflict.

Sojiro is a lot less harsh with Ren in his first appearance and reprimands him far less harshly after his first day at school. He also doesn't need to be convinced to let Ren keep Morgana like he did in the game, despite the fact that as the owner of a café, he has a legitimate reason to not want a pet. Later, when he finds Futaba's calling card, he waits until they've both calmed down from the initial shock before discussing it with her and Ren in a very polite, civil manner, unlike the game where his Anger Born of Worry causes Futaba to break down in tears. That said, he does apparently drive her into a days-long Heroic BSoD by harshly confronting her about the calling card (unlike the game, in which the issue is mostly resolved by the end of the night).

During the food buffet scene in Episode 5, Ann does not briefly lash out at Ren and Ryuji like in the game, since she's more hurt than angry as over the incident. Instead, the three reasonably talk things out concerning the adults' mistreatment of them. Ann is not as resentful towards Makoto as in the game, and more readily admits that she couldn't do anything for Shiho, either.

Yusuke doesn't blackmail the Phantom Thieves with trespassing charges in order to get Ann to pose nude for him. When Ann shows up to pose nude, Yusuke apologizes for losing his temper and telling them to Get Out! during their previous meeting.

Eiko in Makoto's Confidant. In the game, she gets angry with Makoto after Makoto tries to convince her to break up with Tsukasa, mistakenly believing that Makoto wants to steal Tsukasa from her, and is cold toward Makoto the next time they meet. In the anime, she simply asks Makoto for money and repeats her request when Makoto finds her in Shinjuku. While in the game, Eiko's last heard from when Makoto mentions that they made up at the start of the Rank 10 event, in the anime, she proceeds to post Tsukasa's misdeeds to the Phan-Site, turning Tsukasa into a Mementos target. Afterwards, she texts an apology to Makoto and invites her to come to her house and share her Buchimaru collection.

While Hifumi's mother is still an overbearing Stage Mom, since the confrontation with her Shadow isn't shown, she may not have actually taken extreme and illegal measures to build up her daughter's career.

Several of the Shadows end up being downplayed examples:

In the game, Shadow Kaneshiro's final warning about Black Mask sounds like he's taunting the Phantom Thieves; in the anime, it sounds more like a Villain's Dying Grace.

Shadow Kunikazu in particular is a much more sympathetic character. In the game, he merely mourns his utopia with his dying words, but in the anime, he dies with tears in his eyes, lamenting that he'll never get to rekindle his relationship with Haru. Additionally, in flashbacks, Kunikazu was shown to be at least happy during his father's time as a kind cafe owner, and when the happy customers came to offer flowers for the shop's closing, he was crying Tears of Joy from the compliments of the customer before he started going down a dark path. Most of these weren't heavily implied within the game. Finally, during the encounter, thanks to Morgana's angst problem being simplified, Shadow Kunikazu doesn't resort to the Crocodile Tears and an I Surrender, Suckers strategy, so when he's apologizing, he's not faking at all. It also helps that the game omits most of the scenes with the Phantom Thieves observing the cognitive versions of Okumura's workers as robots, along with Haru confirming that she knows about the abuses of the workers happening in real life.

While Shadow Sae still pulls her Moving the Goalposts trick at the Bridge of Judgement, and forces Ren to fight three Rangdas in the first round of the Battle Arenanote the first phase, with two Ganeshas, is apparently omitted, the rest of her Palace isn't as blatantly rigged as it is in the game. Her boss battle is even fought fair and square, skipping the opening phase with the rigged roulette wheel. However, this does cause some of her speeches about how everything is rigged in her favor to ring somewhat hollow.

Astoundingly, the Dirty Cop from the opening sequence. Already an asshole for kicking the crap out of Ren, this time he goes so far as to outright threaten Ren's friends if he doesn't confess. And then, Sae Niijima reveals that only Ren had been captured, meaning the dirty cop was bluffing.

Shadow Madarame makes it clearer that he's not content to just plagiarize and abuse Yusuke, but work him to death. He offers to let Yusuke come back to him if he stays silent about his transgressions, calling Yusuke his "cash cow," and backhands him when Yusuke defies him.

The Camp Gay NPC duo everyone just loved in the original game still log their appearances to harass Ryuji when he and Ren go to Shinjuku, but this time take it one step further by outright jumping onto him together while Ren goes to meet Ohya.

Downplayed with Tsukasa. He's an antagonist during Makoto's Confidant, but not a Mementos target. He becomes one here.

Subverted with Kawanabe. Akechi mentions various unsavory rumors surrounding him exploiting the artists he makes deals with, and investigates him for criminal activity, which were never even mentioned in the game, but it turns out that Kawanabe's assistant was the real culprit.

Adapted Out: None of the Phantom Thieves' Ultimate Personas appear, other than Satanael.

Agony of the Feet: The group's first visit to Futaba's Palace begins with everyone except Morgana burning their feet on the desert sands.

Alas, Poor Villain: After being defeated by the Phantom Thieves, Shadow Okumura apologizes and offers to turn over a new leaf, only for Black Mask to shoot him. As he lays dying, Shadow Okumura says that all he wants is to be able to go back to the time when he and his family were happy together.

In episode 9, the start of Kawakami's Confidant is tied in to Ren's progress on Ryuji's Confidant.

In Episode 18, one of the events of Ann's Confidant route is used to further the sub-plot of Morgana's increasing self-doubt, by having Ann politely refuse his help and refer to him as the team's "mascot". To a lesser extent, Ren and Ryuji go straight from fishing with Kawakami (an optional summer event) to meet up with Futaba in Akihabara.

Episode 24 takes this to dizzying heights. The events of Sojiro's Confidant route handily interrupt his discovery of Futaba's calling card, giving them time to calm down and discuss it properly in stark contrast to the game; the aforementioned events temporarily leave Futaba unable to analyse the dice rolls in Sae's Palace, but she eventually succeeds and beats the house; and Akechi resolves the central dilemma of Sojiro's route (Futaba's abusive uncle trying to take custody of her) because, as an unwanted bastard child who was passed around between foster homes, he can sympathise with her plight.

Haru: Will you change Father's heart? For the sake of justice, or to become more famous? Ryuji: O-Of course it's for the sake of justice! Haru: But you can't help Mona-chan, can you?

As You Know: Shortly after showing Ren his attic room, Sojiro recaps why Ren is staying with him- after his conviction, he got expelled from his previous school and ordered to attend school in Tokyo while he's on probation.

Awesomeness by Analysis: In the game, the dice game in Sae's Palace is rigged so you'll always lose, and you have to counter-rig it so you'll always win. In the anime, Futaba is apparently able to beat the rigging just by analysing the pattern of the dice rolls.

Bait-and-Switch: Ryuji's segment in A Magical Valentine's Day begins with him in first person POV just like the rest of the dates...but as soon as he's done speaking, the camera turns around to show Amamiya, and even allows him to speak, confirming that their segment isn't going to follow the same structure.

Big "NO!": Haru lets one off after her father suffers a mental shutdown.

Bloodier and Gorier: In the third episode when Ann awakens her Persona, the shot used when she tears the mask off of her face is different from the one in the game. The game shows the moment from a low angle so that Ann's face is not seen when the mask is removed; in the anime version the camera is placed above Ann so we are looking directly into her bloody face when she throws her head back. Similarly, all the other characters are framed having the blood on their face after they first remove their masks.

Episode 13 begins with Akechi coming to Leblanc as a news report plays about him playing a role in the arrest of a politician and his son, before playing chess with Ren. The Stinger shows the two playing chess as the story about Kawanabe's assistant being arrested (again, because of Akechi) plays on the TV in the background.

Near the start of Episode 14, the group fights Shadow Mogami. Near the end, they fight Shadow Tsukasa.

Episode 20 begins with Ren waking up and briefly imagining that Morgana, who'd ran away in the previous episode, is there. It ends with him going to bed, now that Morgana's back with him.

The first anime adaptation where the quickly-outclassed starting Persona of the protagonist isn't made into an Adaptational Badass and used as the protagonist's trump card. Arsene gets fused away early on just like the game and Ren uses a variety of gradually-improving personas as the anime goes on. He only brings Arsene back for the fight against Black Mask very late in the series.

This is also the first anime adaptation where the protagonist is still mostly silent (not counting the first part of Persona 3: The Movie) and the first one to focus more on the main plot and the development of other characters.

This is the first anime adaptation where the heroes don't get their Ultimate Personas, other than Joker.

Brick Joke: In the first episode, Sojiro's introduced trying to find a crossword clue. Later on in the episode, Ren, having settled into his attic room, gets the clue.

C-M

Cliffhanger: Episode 26 ends with Akechi apparently shooting Ren in the head in the interrogation room, leading into the "Dark Sun" OVA.

Some students and civilians in the background stand out this way in episode 2 because of their smooth walking.

The boss form of each target's Shadow is 3D-animated, and they look significantly lower-quality than their in-game model.

Criss-Cross Attack: In Dark Sun, during the fight against Shadow Shido, this is how Yoshitsune's signature move, Hassou Tobi, is depicted. In the game, while it's suggested that Yoshitsune makes the cuts, he moves too quickly to see.

Curb-Stomp Battle: While most of the fight sequences are fairly short, some are especially one-sided.

The Phantom Thieves vs. Shadow Okumura. None of the robots appear to get a hit in on the protagonists, and the Executive Director is dealt with in about a minute.

Akechi vs. Ose. Robin Hood shoots Ose dead with a single arrow.

Ren vs. Thor. Oukuninushi blocks Thor's hammer, then cleaves his head in half.

Ren vs. Akechi. While Akechi had put up some resistance during the first half of the fight, all he can do in the second phase is feebly swing at Ren while Ren's Persona overpowers Akechi's.

Demoted to Extra: Most Confidants who aren't Phantom Thieves or important to the plot (Sojiro, Sae, Mishima, Igor, the twins) only have a handful of appearances outside of where they cross paths with the Phantom Thieves in the plot, and most of their storylines are cut out. The Blu-ray releases come with some drama CDs that adapt the conflict portion of some Confidant storylines, but only for Iwai, Takemi, and Kawakami.

Drama CD: See Demoted to Extra above. Along with the three Confidant stories, there's also one that takes place after Futaba joins the thieves in which the thieves partake in some summer fun.

Dramatic Drop: Shiho's practicing in the gym when Mishima comes to tell her to meet with Kamoshida, at which point she drops her volleyball.

In Episode 4, Kamoshida is noticeably less expressive than he is in the game when delivering his confession, and barely grovels at all.

In Episode 22, as Morgana and Ryuji discuss whether the Phantom Thieves have been playing into the conspiracy's hands for the last month or two, despite being horrified by the mere possibility (even if Ryuji doesn't want to believe it), their expressions are decidedly unconcerned.

Goro Akechi gets a decent few. He appears Once an Episode for the first few episodes, though this drops off a bit in the second quarter. In the game, his first appearance was on the day of the subway accident, but he didn't start regularly showing up until after the trip to the TV station.

Takemi, the Death Confidant, makes a slightly earlier appearance during a brief montage of Ren trying to find Sojiro in Episode 1.

Makoto and Haru made cameos in Episode 2. Toranosuke Yoshida, the Sun Confidant, also makes a cameo after the second visit to Kamoshida's Palace. That said, Makoto did originally appear during the Kamoshida arc, just as a seemingly generic NPC. Haru continues to make extremely sporadic appearances in the background or the odd focus shot from there on, which makes sense given that she does attend the same school.

Mika makes a cameo in Episode 3 when Ann's at a modeling job around the time Kamoshida calls Ann.

A chibi Hifumi shows up in Episode 6 as a mascot on a shogi app. Hifumi is also at the TV station in Episode 10, and briefly appears in Episode 13 when Yusuke is asking Joker to pose for his painting, peering into the church and leaving before either sees her.

Chihaya has been appearing sporadically since Episode 10, warning Ren and Ryuji about the arrival of the Camp Gay couple. She later makes another cameo in Episode 14, attempting to sell her product to Eiko and Tsukasa.

"Black Mask" shows up briefly in The Stinger of Episode 10, watching Shadow Kaneshiro. He was mentioned sooner in the game proper, but the first time the audience saw him in person was after defeating Okumura.

Though only in-name, Shinya's handle of "KING" appears at the top of the leaderboard in the arcade in episode 12. He finally appears on-screen in episode 18, walking past in the distance while Ryuji suggests gathering the Phantom Thieves and introducing Futaba to Mementos.

The End... Or Is It?: After Episode 26 has Akechi apparently killing Ren, with the credits showing him walking away from the interrogation room, The Stinger has Ryuji cracking a smile and hinting they still have something up their sleeve. The ending of the A Magical Valentine's Day OVA is similar, with the credits showing the protagonist's dates walking away from Le Blanc as the final dungeon/bad ending theme plays, and The Stinger has Ren going on a date with Sae Niijima at an opera house.

After Futaba gains her Persona in episode 17, she's added to the closing credits at the end of the episode, and then the opening credits in the following episode. Haru is added to the closing credits in Episode 20 (but not the opening credits until episode 22), and Akechi is added to the closing credits in episode 24 having been in the opening credits from the start.

Said closing credits, for the first 25 episodes, depict the Phantom Thieves walking in slow-motion in front of a red background. The end credits for Episode 26 feature Akechi walking in slow-motion through the corridor outside the special interrogation room, having just seemingly shot Ren dead. Afterwards, the first part of the OVA finale, Dark Sun..., removes Akechi from the closing credits. Although he gets added back in for the ending credits of Proof of Justice, which canonically happens between the events of Dark Sun... and Stars and Ours.

Failed a Spot Check: Like in the game, Ann doesn't notice her outfit change after awakening her Persona.

Finger Framing: Yusuke does this after he and Ryuji bring a television set to Ren's room, trying to figure a good placement for it. He also does this at Futaba's Palace while looking at the pyramid and at Makoto, and then later during the Beach Episode when Futaba appears in her swimsuit.

First-Name Basis: In Episode 5, Ann asks Ren to call her by her first name, and Ren agrees. Ren also starts calling Ryuji by his first name, despite having refused to do so earlier.

Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the anime, the Shibuya Creatures come for Ryuji about a minute after Chihaya predicts misfortune for him, as opposed to showing up after Ren's done with his meeting with Ohya.

Flash Forward: Episode 4 ends with one to Akechi talking to all the other Phantom Thieves at the cafe, where the Sayuri painting is shown.

Kawakami drops a flyer for a maid housekeeping service, hinting at her job on the side that is the main focus of her Confidant.

Kawakami also almost falls asleep on the last day of midterm exams in May, hinting that she's running herself ragged at her side job.

Before earning her Persona, Makoto sees a TV series on an outdoor screen about riding motorbikes off to freedom and wishes that reality were that simple.

Since the Meta-Nav app is new to all of the Phantom Thieves, it appears towards the bottom-right corner of their phone screens. When Futaba grabs Akechi's phone prior to the casino heist, sharp-eyed viewers might notice that he's apparently had it for a much longer time than any of them...

While eating at Leblanc, Akechi notes that detectives are in need of cases only they can solve, as well as a good rival, which foreshadows his later relationship with Ren.

At the beginning of Episode 13, Akechi's investigations lead to the arrests of a politician and his son. It's later revealed that the politician was one of Shido's enemies, and this is an early case of Akechi using his powers to cause incidents and then solve them.

Funny Background Event: As the group is discussing Ryuji's apparent death after saving them from the destruction of Shido's Palace, Ryuji himself can be seen sticking out of a bush in the background.

Get Out!: When Yusuke gets angry about the Phantom Thieves accusing Madarame of abuse and plagiarism, he orders them to leave the atelier, but doesn't threaten to report them to the police.

Giver of Lame Names: Ren tends to do this when thinking of code names for his fellow Phantom Thieves, usually choosing the more ridiculous options, even in situations in which it's actually possible for the player to choose the code name that ends up being used.

There's a piece of Engrish when Ren and Makoto's session at the arcade light gun game ends with a "GAMR OVER" screen (this however might be just a typo).

In Episode 14, the Phantom Thieves' codenames and Personas are listed in English. Ryuji's codename is "Scull," another typo.

In the Casino, the console for the Bridge of Judgment says, "YOU ARE MANY COINS SHORT," when Futaba tries to pay the 100,000 coins needed while the group only has 100 on their card.

Guns Akimbo: Ren imagines himself with a gun in each hand after seeing Shinya play Gun About with a controller in each hand. He then puts the idea into practice while fighting Akechi in Shido's Palace.

Heroic BSoD: After Sojiro finds the calling card that Futaba got, Futaba's upset enough that she's not able to concentrate while in Sae's Palace, preventing the group from dealing with the dice rolls until the issue is resolved.

Heroic Mime: Unlike Persona 4: The Animation, this trope is not averted, but only zigzagged. While Ren is silent for the most part, often only saying things that anyone in the group could have said, there are scenes in which he holds conversations with others.

Shadow Kamoshida manages to bring down the entire party and nearly kills them all. Igor's timely intervention unlocks Ren's fusion abilities and gives him the strength to rally and defeat Kamoshida.

In episode 25, Ren initially struggles in the Battle Arena in Sae's Palace, but recalling his interactions with his Confidants - and an energy drink Takemi gave him - gives him the strength to turn the tables with consummate ease.

Hope Spot: Akechi's murder of Ren is initially portrayed as a rescue attempt, accompanied by the rest of the Phantom Thieves waiting in nervous anticipation. After taking the pistol, Akechi doesn't shoot the guard immediately, but holds him at gunpoint, then says the following line to Ren.

How We Got Here: As in the game, most of the show is told through flashback, revealing what transpired from when Ren came to Tokyo to the present time where he was arrested after a heist went wrong. It catches up with itself at the very end of episode 25.

I Have You Now, My Pretty: When Makoto tries to confront Kaneshiro, he has his men hold her down and orders them to strip her in order to take photos to sell. Fortunately, the rest of the gang show up seconds later and interrupt proceedings.

Interface Spoiler: Subverted. The later episodes indicate that there are episodes numbered 27, 28, and 29, but the anime abruptly ends at episode 26, after Goro shoots Ren, with the rest of the main plot wrapped up in two non-numbered specials.

Ann is subject to Male Gaze a lot, with lots of framed shots of her butt and breasts. Also, originally, in the game, Ann goes home after Yusuke's welcoming party and the boys take a bath together at the bathhouse. In the anime, however, she joins them at the bathhouse and there's a shot of Ann scrubbing and rinsing her body in the showers while the boys are soaking in the tub.

Makoto herself is not immune, having a shot of her butt in her thief costume during The Stinger of episode 11 and the Akechi boss fight in the Dark Sun OVA.

Shadow Sae gets a nice shot of her thigh and partially-exposed butt cheek when the Phantom Thieves arrive to confront her.

Female Gaze: The only example in "Proof of Justice" OVA, during the snooker scene, the screen suddenly is filled with Akechi's butt.

In a news report about Akechi in episode 1, Persona 4's Naoto Shirogane is name-dropped when referring to Akechi as "the Second Coming of the Detective Prince."

Rise Kujikawa from the same game is also shown in an ad during a pan of the city in the same episode.

In episode 2 Kanami Mashita of Kanamin Kitchen is shown in a video ad following Ren and Ryuji's second visit to Kamoshida's palace.

In episode 2, Ren goes to buy a pastry at the school shop and sees that there's only one left. If he had got there two seconds later, they would have been out... as they are for most of the week in the game.

During the scene on the roof in Episode 21, Haru wears her gym uniform for most of the scene while working in her garden, but a brief shot around the time that the group discusses where to go to celebrate their most recent success shows Haru in her school uniform.

Episodes 1 and 12 gleefully show off SONY cell phones, with Ren's in particular being a Sony Xperia XZ1. His phone's ringtone can also be heard in episode 12.

Episode 19 shows that the karaoke booth is Pasela Resorts. Pasela Resorts is a real-life karaoke chain and it was also where Persona 5 had its first collaboration cafe. Episode 20 shows this again during Sugimura and Haru's confrontation.

Shiho drops her volleyball when Mishima asks her to see Kamoshida, presumably knowing that it isn't going to be anything pleasant.

After Ren asks Kawanabe about the three companies that received money from him, Kawanabe's assistant panics and tries to destroy the evidence, but Akechi and the police catch him in the act.

Ann, Ryuji and Haru have this reaction when hearing that the Bridge of Judgment requires 100,000 coins to activate, twice as many as they needed to purchase access to the High Rate floor.

O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Near the end of Episode 18, Morgana says he's not hungry when Ren offers him fish at the Wilton buffet, indicating his growing depression.

Out-of-Character Moment: In Episode 4, Takemi, who, in the game, had kept her secret medicine a very closely guarded secret, and only reluctantly took the protagonist on as a test subject, nonchalantly offers to let him use her medicine as long as he tells her about its effects.

Morgana refers to Futaba's abusive uncle as "a miserable son of a bitch."

Ren asks "What the hell is going on?" when after Shido's change of heart, the crowd watching the news broadcast refuses to believe it.

Purple Is Powerful: Downplayed, but in this series Sae is noticeably wearing purple eyeshadow, which subtly but effectively adds on to her already intimidating appearance and demeanor.

The Quiet One: While Ren is a little more vocal than he was in the game, he still doesn't talk that much.

Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In episode 3, Ren and Ryuji are really hesitant about doing a change of heart, due to the chance the target could die(albeit less so in the game, in which they immediately reconsider after hearing about the possibility). However, after Kamoshida rapes Shiho they are... less concerned about his well being, and decide the risk is in acceptable margins.

Red Herring: In Episode 13, Akechi's initially convinced that Kawanabe's in charge of illegally moving money around, as well as being responsible for other shady dealings, but it turns out that the culprit's his assistant.

Samus Is a Girl: Ann's surprised that the seemingly male armored knight guard that has the eye key turns out to be a female Pixie, and says she wouldn't have resorted to sex appeal if she'd known that.

Slasher Smile: Alice gives out one during the battle against Shadow Shido.

Smart People Play Chess: In the opening of Episode 13, Akechi challenges Ren to a game of chess. Ren initially refuses, but Akechi tells him that he'll pick it up quickly since it's a lot like shogi. The two are seen playing chess in several subsequent episodes, with Akechi always winning. Akechi later gives Ren the black king piece as a trinket to remember him by before his Heroic Sacrifice.

Smoke Out: After Morgana, offended by Ryuji accidentally saying "useless," runs away from the other Phantom Thieves, Haru drops a smoke bomb and follows him out.

Spoiler Cover: The cover for the Volume 11 DVD and Blu-Ray release has a reversible cover featuring Joker and Black Mask on one side, and Ren and Akechi on the other. Both cover variants are shown off in product listings.

The second version of the opening from episodes 4-13 foreshadows Goro Akechi's true nature as well as Caroline and Justine being the split forms of Lavenza, as well as revealing all future members of the Phantom Thieves.

The fourth opening, introduced in episode 26, even more strongly foreshadows Akechi's betrayal and subsequent fate, as well as Mementos leaking into the real world.

After meeting Nakanohara in the Shibuya subway, with both around the corner from each other and unable to see the other's face, Ren leaves just after Nakanohara bows and begs Ren to steal Madarame's heart to prevent Yusuke from being Driven to Suicide.

Haru suggests that her father once shed these after seeing his father's former patrons come to thank him.

The Stinger: Each episode except for 15 and 16 has a scene after the credits. The group's run-ins with Futaba are kept as Cliffhangers because those episodes don't have stingers.

Thicker Than Water: During Episode 14, Yusuke mentions this trope while reminiscing on the Madarame arc. He says that even after everything Madarame did, it's not easy for Yusuke to cut his foster father out of his life.

Title Drop: Each episode title is a line spoken by one of the characters in the same episode. "Dark Sun," however, is named after the second opening theme, and "Stars and Ours" is named after the game's credits theme.

Two-Teacher School: The anime follows this trope more than the game does. Apart from Kamoshida, Kawakami is the only teacher who regularly appears, and often appears where another teacher would have (for example, Shiho attempts suicide while Ren and Ann are in Kawakami's class instead of Ushimaru's).

Underestimating Badassery: When Joker summons Alice to fight Shido, the latter dismisses her as a weak Persona. The Creepy Child quickly shows him how wrong he is by teleporting behind him after dodging his attacks, giving one hell of a Slasher Smile and strike him with a Megidolaon.

Valentine's Day Episode: The plot of A Magical Valentines Day has Ren dating all the romanceable female Confidants and Ryuji, as well as a date with Sae Niijima at an opera house.

Your Cheating Heart: Near the end of A Magical Valentines Day, all the girls find out that Ren has been unfaithful to them, and they promptly arrive at Le Blanc after Valentine's Day to beat him up.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy